BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING. 18 August 2017

Transcription

1 BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING 18 August 2017 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Zeke McDonald, Tom Jenkins, AJ LaVallie, Steve Sward (by phone), Bill Fry, and Chief Bob Kinniry. ISLANDERS PRESENT: Sue Ann Cousar, Jo Ann Beiermeister (by phone), Bill Byrnes (by phone), Arthur Mason (by phone), Kristi Riggle (by phone) and CAPT Ron Givens (by phone). 1) CALL TO ORDER: Chairman McDonald called the meeting to order at 10:00 AM. 2) MINUTES: Minutes of the 21 July Regular Meeting were read; LaVallie moved, Jenkins seconded, and all voted aye to accept the minutes with corrections. 3) TREASURER S REPORT: Balance Sheet: o The Ad Valorem checking account had a 31 July ending accrued balance of $4, o The Ad Valorem Money Market Account had a 31 July ending accrued balance of $496, (including $ in interest) o The Friend s account had a 31 July ending balance of $15, (no change) o The Impact Fee account had a 31 July ending balance of $2, (no change) o Fry stated that there were no unexpected outstanding liabilities other than the usual transfers of expenses between the General Fund and Special Assessment Fund. There are 13 remaining unpaid 1 st Year Special Assessments totaling $9, Consolidated Income and Expense Report: o We are 83.33% through the year and have spent 74.26% of the consolidated budget. In our major spending categories, Pay & Benefits is 78.91%, Operating Expenses is 64.5%, and Capital is 12.73%, all are well below the straight line glide path of 83.33%. o For Revenues, we are at 99.9% collected through 31 July (with only $ unpaid in General Fund and $ unpaid in Special Assessments, less than $1,024 total). LaVallie moved to accept the Treasurer s Report, Jenkins seconded, all voted aye.

2 Page 2 of 7 4) CHIEF S REPORT: Calls Last Month: 74 (7 more calls since the last meeting), including the fire on Sol Vista that destroyed 2 homes, no injuries to residents or firefighters 1988 Pierce Engine/Pumper: o Now at Matlacha/Pine Island FCD awaiting barging back to island, after successfully completing pump testing o Once our Engine/Pumper is barged out to the island, the loaner will be returned to the mainland for any required maintenance before return to San Carlos Park (costs unknown but one of the hoses has a finger-sized hole that will need to be repaired or replaced before return) o Cost was about $1,000 to replace 2 rims (no tires) and to complete the pump pressure testing FEMA Grant for High Volume Pump (750 gallons per minute): No updated status State Park Firebreak: LaVallie wrote a letter to Lach concerning the firebreak and the path down to the South Banks but no answer has been received yet Sol Vista Fire: Provided first unapproved draft of the incident report and the detailed timeline created from the 911 Dispatch Log: o Call received from 911 Dispatch at 23:32, with initial response of E191 (23:37), B192 (23:39), T191 (23:40), and U192/P192 (00:01) o Chief (U192/P192) didn t receive notice until 23:47, enroute at 23:52, arrived at Station to change from U191 to U192 and pickup P192 (High-Volume/High- Pressure pump on trailer), enroute at 23:57, arrived at scene at 00:01 o On arrival, structure was fully involved with high flames and heat, with propane tanks venting; 3 rd Alarm was called in to 911 Dispatch that caused alert notification of MERT and North Strike Team o UC2 (Cook), UC3 (McMullen) and UC4 (Givens) responded from their mainland homes, enroute at 23:55 and arriving at 00:39 via Crew Boat and, on their arrival, found the structure fully collapsed at that point o On UC2 arrival, CAPT Cook assumed command of the incident from CAPT Tyrell, UC3 (McMullen) assumed operational control, and UC4 (Givens) assumed personnel accountability o There was only one access to fight the fire via Point House Trail and, with the narrow pathway, the stone walls on both the NW and SE sides of Point House Trail, pressure-treated dimensional lumber (2 x10 x16 or greater) for dock repairs (that was manually moved after mutual aid units arrived), plus a sailboat beside the pathway, all other access was through dense mangrove and Brazilian pepper o E191, B192, and T191 tank water initially provided water on the fire while Chief worked to position P192 (the high-pressure/high-volume pump) to resupply water from Safety Harbor

3 Page 3 of 7 o Various marine/fire boats also assisted with establishing water supply from Pine Island Sound at DeTure s dock but, by that time, the exposure structure was on fire and propane tanks were also off-gassing and exploding o Water supply was established with 6 lines after arrival of MERT and the North Strike team and LCSO verified all people were evacuated from both the exposure and neighboring homes; the family in the exposure structure were taken to the Fire Station during the incident and NCIC moved them to an alternate rental that morning o Island Girl captained 3 vessels to ferry arriving North Strike & South Strike Teams, along with Red Cross rehab supplies; with initial arrivals within 1 hour and 20 minutes, compared to greater than 2-1/2 hours for the Kingfisher fire o With arrival of various mutual aid fire companies, additional water lines were put into place, arriving manpower relieved firefighters in place, and various rehab/rest rotations were initiated o Fire under control reported to 911 Dispatch at 01:32, 2 hours after initial call o State Fire Marshal and Lee Arson Investigation began that morning, with mutual aid responders released o No loss of life, no injuries (smoke or heat), no loss of major equipment, all equipment operated as expected, proper fuel was used in the pumps and other equipment o Sward asked about the lumber obstructions and Chair stated that it was probably for Trapanese s dock repair that Jeffers was in the process of. Fry also reminded everyone that the stone walls appear to be out of the easement, on private property, but still posed an obstruction for the loaner Engine/Pumper that was 3 longer with a greater turning radius that would not have made that turn (the heat was so intense that our own Engine/Pumper would not have attempted the turn anyway) o Sward asked about reports that various vacation renters smelled a burning rubber-type smell around sunset and that kids out playing smelled trash burning); Chief confirmed that was true but neither reported it o Chief read from Chief Nesbitt (Chairman of the Lee County Chiefs Association, Chief of Bayshore FD, and the North Strike Team commander) that congratulated Lee County for their improvements in barrier island mutual aid response and the District s on-shift initial responses were a dramatic improvement over the last fire in February 2013 o Givens stated that approximately 90 firefighters responded, either on-island or held at Pineland Marina but the initial response (4 UCFRD firefighters) fought the fire alone during the first hour and half o Fry thanked Chief and Givens for completing the report and the time summary, and stated that the final report and an After Action Review of what went right/what went wrong needed to be briefed at the September meeting, including the perspectives of 911 Dispatch and the responding departments and strike teams

4 Page 4 of 7 o LaVallie pointed out that the significant difference between the Adams fire in February 2013 is the Special Assessment with the addition of 2 part-time firefighters on every shift that are highly trained (totaling 3 or 4 part-time firefighters on each shift now), that are frequently exercised at their full-time departments, which unfortunately wasn t the case 4-1/2 years ago o Chair stated sense of the Board was that the Chief would create an After Action Report and present that at the September regular meeting, as well as future discussions over multiple future regular meetings, including hypothetical scenarios of what would happen if a fire didn t occur on the Sound or on a canal o Public Question: Will the incident report be posted on the website for the UCCA to forward as public information to the all island list? Fry stated that the first draft was already posted on the website last night and that any updates will be posted as well, as the Chief finalizes them. The Board accepted the Chief s Report 5) COMMISSIONER REPORTS: A) Sward-Legal Representation: Discussed with Attorney Pritt and confirmed that he will continue to support the District until the District chooses a replacement firm as the district s legal counsel Pritt provided a second name, in addition to Attorney Pringle, but that attorney didn t have recent governmental or fire district experiences Pringle represents a number of fire districts and will attend the October regular board meeting to meet and greet, for a potential decision to become our legal advisor on that date or shortly thereafter Chair asked if Pritt identified any requirement for a public announcement or open bidding process and Sward stated that Pritt didn t believe there was a legal requirement for that LaVallie-Community Committee Update: Until we have a legal advisor, there is no reason to discuss surface maintenance or a new referendum 6) OLD BUSINESS: A) Repair or Replace the Station Generator: Tabled until Chief provides further information B) Officer Chain of Command/Organization Chart: Tabled until Chief provides further information C) F17 and FY18 Meeting Schedules:

5 Page 5 of 7 October: Synchronizes a 4 th Friday meeting on 27 October, with the SHC Meeting on Saturday, 28 October and UCCA Meeting on Sunday, 29 October December: Scheduling 8 December gets the meeting out of the 2 nd half of December, away from the holidays All other meetings are the 3 rd Friday of each month, except the two Budget Hearings that remain on Saturdays at 10AM The approved schedule will be posted on the UCFRD website after the meeting D) FY18 Proposed Budget: There have been no changes to the briefing slides or detailed spreadsheets since it was posted on the website on 4 July, before the July meeting Revenues: o $17.8 million increase in valuations for FY18 but we ll potentially lose $2-$3 million after the total losses of the Batista/Trapanese homes (about $10,000 in reduced revenues next year) o Three what-if millage rates for 3.75 mils ($65K increase), the rollback rate of about 3.41 mils ($2K increase), and a bare bones 3.15 mils that doesn t increase uncommitted reserves in FY18 (reducing proposed revenues $48K) o Board decided that the target goal for the unrestricted reserve is $210K for the first 3 months of each fiscal year for payroll and operating costs for October December and Fry recommends that $250K should be our target limit for unrestricted reserves at the end of each year plus the $500K line of credit for unforeseen emergencies during the budget year Pay & Benefits Proposals: o Part-Time Hourly Pay: LaVallie stated that, unless we have a problem with hiring or retaining part-time employees, the maximum that we should be discussing is just a cost of living adjustment to keep them where they are this year (and any given year going forward) The rest of the Board agreed o Chief s Pay: Chief asks for a $5000 increase in base pay (plus a $1250 increase in retirement and increases in District-paid taxes) while Fry recommends the Federal Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) of up to 0.3% for 2017 LaVallie stated that we shouldn t expect the new Chief s pay to be any higher than the former Chief s last pay of $68,540, that he should be entitled to a cost of living raise, and that we should decide whether Chief s performance merits a raise in base salary and benefits Chair stated that we spent 30 minutes or more last month on those performance reviews and he paraphrased that the Board was satisfied with the Chief s performance and, in his opinion, as part of the proposed new organization structure, that we should pay those new leadership people for their additional

6 Page 6 of 7 efforts and that we haven t provided any meaningful raises to the Chief after his promotion from Assistant Chief Fry stated again that we jointly agreed in May 2016 (that the Board voted on, the Chair and Chief signed) a salary of $55,000; that the written contract has never been amended with the $5000 voted by the Board last year 4-1; that Fry takes the view that the $5000 (plus $1250 in retirement contribution) was a nonrecurring bonus for the work that Chief did as the Acting Chief during late 2015/early 2016, and that his FY18 salary reverts to the $55,000 that is in the signed written contract Chief stated that his magic number this year is $65,000 ($5000 more than this year), based on his expanded duties, what the former chief was paid, and that other Chiefs receive significantly more money Sward recommended a $2000 raise, with a $500 increase in retirement, based on the performance reviews that everyone completed last month o Sward moved that we increase the Chief s base pay $2000 next year to $62,000, plus $500 for retirement, seconded by McDonald, carried 4-1 (Fry against) o McDonald moved that we increase all part-time employees hourly rates by 0.3% as cost of living adjustment, seconded by LaVallie, all voted aye o LaVallie moved that we cap the annual cost for additional hours worked by Cook, McMullen, and Givens up to $8000/year total, seconded by Sward, all voted aye Operating Expenses: o General Fund: Board accepted Chief s and Treasurer s recommended spending o Special Assessment: Board accepted Chief s and Treasurer s recommended spending Capital Investment: o General Fund: Board accepted Chief s and Treasurer s recommended spending o Special Assessment: Board accepted Chief s and Treasurer s recommended spending Fry moved that we accept the Treasurer s numbers for Operating Expenses and Capital Investment, seconded by Sward, all voted aye Fry provided slides as food for thought concerning : o Alternatives for Chief s housing, if his current landlord sells the house or the Chief retires, for renovating the current Station o Options for hiring a full-time EMT-qualified employee, initially working 2-shifts on/4- shifts off or 1-shift on/2 shifts off (like any other fire district in the area) shows that we can afford to hire that employee, by displacing one of our part-time employees and is well within our budget limits Fry moved that we direct the Chief to begin the process to draft an ad for hiring a fulltime, 2-1/3 shift per week EMT-qualified employee by the October 2017 meeting, seconded by Jenkins, all voted aye E) FY18 Final Special Assessment Methodology & Roll: Fry moved that we accept the final draft of the methodology and roll, after all of the changes identified at the July meeting were updated, seconded by Jenkins, all voted aye

7 Page 7 of 7 7) NEW BUSINESS: A) Resolution to Accept 4 th Year Fire Service Special Assessment (Resolution ): Chair read the resolution, LaVallie moved that we approve the resolution, seconded by Jenkins, all voted aye 8) PUBLIC COMMENT: Negative comments about the fire were not having volunteers to provide directions to the fireman that missed the turn; Chief responded that the Beast (B192 military truck) went down to the beach to assess the spread of fire and whether it could drive along the beach to approach the back of the fire, then returned to Point House Trail. Does Attorney Pringle have any municipal experience and Sward responded that he represents other fire districts in the area. 9) NEXT DATE: Preliminary Budget Hearing on Saturday, 9 September 2017 beginning at 10AM, the Final Budget Hearing on Saturday, 16 September 2017 beginning at 10AM, and the next Regular Meeting will follow immediate on Saturday, 16 September 2017, at the conclusion of the Final Budget Hearing. 10) ADJOURN Moved by Fry, seconded by Jenkins; meeting adjourned at 3:14 PM. Respectfully submitted, Bill Fry Secretary/Treasurer